


concealing darkness

by scarlet_lupin



Category: Darkest Powers - Kelley Armstrong, Darkness rising - Kelly Armstrong
Genre: Darkness Rising, F/M, independent chloe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2018-08-28 16:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8453545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarlet_lupin/pseuds/scarlet_lupin
Summary: the gang ditched Chloe claiming she was slowing them down and she was going to get hurt if she hung around them, this was when Chloe realised she needed to be stronger if she didn't want to be left behind ever again. picking her self up she dusted her self of and grew a spine, looking out for your self on the streets will do that to a person. now three years after they left her they meet the new and improved Chloe, as well as some new super naturals from project pheonix. what will the two groups make of this new confident and powerful necromancer.





	1. familiar faces

crouched on the roof i scanned again for any souls that were not where they were supposed to be and i found two small groups both about to round the corner of the building in front of me. slinking back into the shadows i was relieved i was still perched on the fire escape. when the two groups came into view i was shocked, mostly because one of the groups was the gang, Simon, tori, Derek, and kit they were all there. the other group made up of two native American looking girls, two native American looking boys, two blond girls, and two guys, i couldn't place them at first but i had a suspicion on who they could be. which was only confirmed when the groups started talking.

"who are you?" Derek was as gruff and to the point as before

"who are you?" the native girl had guts to stand up to Derek that was for sure,

"i asked first"

the girl frowned and said "maya, maya Delaney" yep suspicion confirmed the other group was the escapees from project phoenix "now who are you?"

Derek scowled and kit stepped forwards to speak, taking this as my cue i grabbed the fire escape ladder sliding down the sides of the ladder ignoring the rusting metal which flaked of on my gloved hands. grinning slightly i said "oh my! project phoenix and project genesis finally together, so cute." raking my gaze over the gang i muttered "your missing one." probably only Derek and the skin walkers caught it

maya gaped and said "how do you know about project phoenix?" apparently she wasn't bothered by the missing group member, though its not her group so its not her problem.

smirking i said "there are other experimental groups and your not the only ones who escaped and have a grudge against the Edison group. this is my sixth, no seventh base, only three more after this one and then no more Edison group" flashing them a feral grin i continued "so if you guys are gonna stand around and potentially trigger some alarms go do it somewhere else i have a base to blow up" nodding at them i tipped an imaginary hat and crossed the ally crouching in front of the buildings wall.

"what the...how are you getting in?"

glancing over my shoulder i said "the window silly" the blond, sam if i was remembering her file correctly, didn't look impressed at being called silly

"the window that is several floors up? and how are you going to get to the window?"

grinning i said "like this" pulling as much dark energy around myself as i dared i jumped as soon as i reached the peek of my jump i kicked off the wall and summersaulted towards the opposite wall i continued to launch from wall to wall quickly reaching the second floor window, gathering the dark energy in my hands i slammed them on the wall hard and dug my fingers in the wall crumbled a little but held. removing one hand from the wall i unlatched the window and pushed it open, swinging up onto the window sill i waved at the shocked faces bellow and dropped down onto the floor the other side of the window.

gliding down the corridors i smiled to my self finally appreciating the years i spent doing gymnastics at school now, using my powers i scanned the building for souls and found that maya and derek's groups had made it into the building. huffing i started taking out guards aiming for small groups three at once max, when i finally reached the records room i shoved my memory stick into the computer and set it to down loading and then i moved back out and started taking out more guards five minutes later i made my way back to the records room only to run into maya's group although the other native girl...Annie? had shifted as had one of the native boys, i think it was her brother so there were six people and two large cougars.

grinning i waved and said "hey guys what you been up to?" as i spoke i walked past them and into the records room, puling out my memory stick i glanced at the group standing by the door the two cougars bared their teeth. snorting i shifted my left arm running my fingers lightly over the tattoo of a huge black wolf like animal on my right fore arm as i said "i wouldn't do that if i were you" and as i spoke i noted with no small amount of satisfaction that the tattoo rippled and shifted moving on my skin as though the beast was eager to move and leave behind the confinement of my skin.

the other blond girl which had to be Hayley stuttered "wh..what..did..t..th..that...did that tattoo just move?!?!"

smiling i strolled past and was just about to leave the records room when maya said "wait whats your name?"

blinking i said "oh you can call me styx"

the sandy haired boy spoke up "as in the river in the under world? or the brown thing you throw for a dog to fetch?"

smiling despite trying not to i said "you must be Corey, and yes as in the river in the under world"

"wow wow wow how do you know who i am?"

rolling my eyes i said "i read up on all of you in the event that i ever ran across any of you, and the other group too,"

maya cut in "is that how you knew one of them was missing?"

not bothering to vocalise my answer i just nodded, Daniel made his presence felt as he said "do you know why?"

"why what?"

rolling his eyes he said "why the person they are missing is currently...well...missing?"

staring at Daniel i remembered the day i found out the group didn't want me any more.

**flash back**

_sitting up and stretching i groaned slightly 'god yesterday was long' it had been particularly long as we couldn't settle till we shook of the Edison group that had been following us ever since tori snapped at me too loudly in a shopping centre and drew some much unwanted attention, which resulted in me being recognised and us being moved because of the half a million reward on my head and the Edison group found out so we had to leave in a hurry. rolling out of bed i staggered into the living area expecting to see mess everywhere from when we dropped stuff when we came in and probably take out waiting for me along with the rest of the gang as i hadn't seen tori in our room. but when i stepping into the living room i saw the room was painfully tidy and there wasn't a single sign anyone except me had ever been there save for a note on the coffee table, lifting the note i scanned over the neat print that told me Derek had written the note._

_Chloe,_

_we are leaving. you can't come with us any more you are slowing us down, you are too recognisable and it is a risk. you are a liability to the group, the weak link. we can't risk everyone I'm sorry. go home, i'm sure your dad would be pleased to see you and he should be able to protect you from the Edison group. enjoy your life, your normal life._

_Derek_ _, tori, Simon, and kit._

_i had sat and stared at the note for nearly an hour thinking maybe it was a joke and they would all come crashing in laughing at how gullible i am, and then it sunk in, they left me. over the mall incident which had mostly been tori's fault but of course i got blamed, well i was done with it. being walked all over isn't fun and there is no way I'm going home so i can be caught, no thanks which means i now have to survive on my own._

that had been when i decided to train and work on my skill set, working with my powers, learning my limits and i found i didn't really have any. if i tried hard enough i could do pretty much anything which is how i found out i could kill people by yanking their souls out of their bodies and then banishing their souls, or just render them unconscious if i pull on their soul hard enough with out actually removing it. with a lot of concentration i could even command the living as i did the dead but so far my control only extended to one living person at a time, but i'm sure with practise i would be able to control more. the dark energy thing had been a surprise as had wolf (the living tattoo) but they were both stories for another time. focusing back on daniel i answered his question "she was too slow, held up the group so they ditched her"

Hayley nodded and said "survival of the fittest"

Corey whacked her arm and said "how would you like it if we ditched you?"

"uh"

"yeah thought so, don't be such a bitch Hayley no body deserves to be ditched by their friends especially when on the run, thats just harsh"

ash snorted and muttered "don't know, she's probably better off without them if what i saw was any indicator of their group dynamics"

frowning i said "what did you see?"

looking at me carefully he said "well their group is falling apart, the big brute he is trying to be in charge but they all argue too much, i would say the girl was probably all that was holding them together and now they are starting to fall apart. i swear i heard the bitchy one start arguing with the adult just for sighing and it just escalated from there. it was honestly impressive that they could find that many things to argue about while in this situation"

snorting i said "well they survived three years without her, i think they can cope for the rest of today"

giving them another little wave i exited the room and started my trek through the building tugging souls out as i went, every hall was the same. i walked down the middle of the corridor, people saw me and panicked, and then i yanked their soul out and they collapsed. this continued for all of the second floor and most of the first floor until i reached the prison, swiping the key i stole of one of the dead guards in the lock i pushed the door open. striding down the centre aisle of the prison section i started opening doors, the prisoners were slow exiting. probably thinking its a trap, when they were all finally were stood in the hall way i turned to face them and said "come on then lets go"

a tall man near the back of the group called out "how can we trust you?"

rolling my eyes i said "screw you, I'm rescuing your ungrateful asses, if you don't want to get out of here before i blow it up your welcome to stay..."

the blond woman standing next to the tall guy elbowed him harshly and said "nope we're good, lead on oh great rescuer"

snorting i turned and leaned the group from he prison and straight up towards the nearest exit, any guard we saw collapsed dead before they could so much as scream. however after the fourth group of guards dropped dead on sight the blond woman from before sidled up to me and said "are you doing that?"

smiling i said "maybe"

eye rounding she said "how?"

smiling with a whole lot of tooth i said "i'm an experimented on necromancer, and it would appear their experiments rendered me with powers with no conceivable limit"

the woman gaped and said "so your..."

"..pulling out their souls and then banishing them? yep"

the woman looked distinctly ill after that revelation and said "i..i see"

grinning at her discomfort i said "whose the guy?"

blinking she smiled and said "oh thats clay my mate, and i'm Eleanor"

stiffening a fraction i said "he's a werewolf?"

frowning she said "we both are, is that going to be a problem?"

sighing i shook my head and said "no, no, nothing like that i have nothing against werewolves in general, just one in particular. well actually three but ones dead now so to answer your question no it won't be a problem. although I'm curios i thought you couldn't get female werewolves"

the woman shook her head slightly digesting this information before replying "no not normally i'm the only one as far as we can tell, the change usually kills women however i appear to have been an exception."

nodding slightly i said "it must be nice"

"what? being the only of my kind?"

"no, having a mate"

"oh. yeah, it is pretty great"

"only pretty great?"

the loud gravelly male voice behind me would have at one time sent me several feet in the air but as it was i only raised an eye brow and said "you must be clay, it nice to meet you, you can call me styx"

the werewolf sniffed slightly and "humpf how did you know i was there?"

grinning slightly i said "i have to be able to sense a soul to drag it kicking and screaming from its body, i monitored your movements when i learned you're a werewolf and would be able to hear our conversation. i figured you would come over at some point and try to scare the shit out of me. you werewolves are so similar sometimes"

the last bit was said with a wistful smile which neither missed. Eleanor spoke up "you've had lots of dealings with werewolves before?"

smirking at her i said "you could say that"

"what does that mean?"

"it means two tried to kill me/ take me captive so they could take my werewolf boyfriend, now ex boyfriend, to the pack and claim that he was a man eater, so they could save their own hides. those two wouldn't give up so in the end we fought them and one of them died, the other gave up to take his friends body."

"those two werewolves, you didn't happen to catch a name did you?"

snorting i said "Liam and Ramon, right pair of assholes"

"huh so thats what happened, we've been trying to work out what happened to them for a while now. they've always been a thorn in our sides and then they suddenly went all quiet about three and bit years back, so that was you was it?"

raising an eyebrow i said "yeeeesssssss?" drawing the word out i pondered their wording. "your from the pack!"

nodding Eleanor said "yeah"

squinting i said "oh shit your that eleanor and Clayton with the pups right?"

cutting into the conversation clay practically growled "how do you know about the pups?"

sighing i explained about finding the emails on Andrew's computer and our subsequent research into the pack at a later and safer date, "...so yeah we wanted as much info as possible incase de..my ex boyfriend ever needed to go talk to you guys about some werewolfy thing" shrugging at the end i watched the two werewolves digest the information i was giving them and as i looked up i saw the exit just in front of us, perking up i said "almost out the exit is just over there" not waiting for any replies i hurried everyone over to the exit and then instructed them to either loiter and i would help them set up new fake identities or they were welcome to just go. most chose to just go.

closing my eyes i scanned for the two groups still in the building i found the gang by the records room and the project phoenix kids were all the way on the other side of the compound, starting back into the building i noted there also seemed to be a very large number of guards in that area. concentrating on only the guards souls i gave huge tug and felt the give when their souls left their bodies, quickly banishing their spirits i made sure both groups were alright before i hurried towards the phoenix group, the presence of two souls trailing me had me whipping round to see both clay and eleanor looking sheepish. "what are you doing in here?"

"we want to help"

groaning i contemplated how long it would take to argue them out of the idea, giving up i said "can you find the group with the werewolf in the building they should be upstairs near the records room"

nodding the werwolves took of upstairs, and i started running towards the far south end of the building were i could still feel the phoenix kids souls.


	2. Chapter 2

Rounding the last corner the project phoenix group came into sight, four cougars were sniffing around the dead bodies, while the rest of the group were arguing on how the guards died. Interrupting them mid argument I said "I did it! Now if you don't want to be blown up with this building I would suggest you get out of here!"

"What about the prisoners?"

"Their already outside, so shoo! Get out of here would ya!"

"Don't tell us what to do!"

Stifling the urge to slap the silly blonde twit, who I was seriously running out of patients with, I said "for the love of...fine! Leave, stay I don't care but I'm setting my charges and if your not out when I'm ready to blow this place sky high, it is your own fault!" With that I turned and started puling out the plastic explosives that I kept tucked away in the pouches at my waist.

Turning I found the group still standing there. Huffing I tugged up the sleeve of my top and pressed firmly against the wolf tattoo on my arm. With a distorted ripple the wolf pulled itself free of my arm, growing in size as it did. Landing with a soft patter of paws she looked up at me with large amber eyes, smiling I pulled a bundle of charges from my waist and handed them to the wolf. "Could you set these out for me?"

I got a confirming bark and then she scooped up the charges and trotted of, after giving the skin walkers curious sniff. It was rather comical, she was about twice the size of the cougars.

"Holy shit!" Blinking I turned to face the group and saw that two of the cougars had vanished, a quick check revealed they were in the two nearby rooms, presumably changing back.

"What?" I addressed my comment at the whole group even though I was pretty sure it was Haley who had spoken.

"That...your tattoo...it...I don't..what the hell?"

Snorting at Cory's oh so imaginative way of expressing his confusion I said "yeah, that was Hel my little helper"

"Jeez you don't do things by half measures do you?"

"Nope!" Smirking I continued to set out charges.

It took me a while but when I finally had all the charges set I made my way out of the building, pleased to see Clay and Eleanore waiting outside, eyeing Hel curiously. The project phoenix kids all went to huddle together, probably trying to work out how I was going to light the charges as I hadn't set any fuses. Fighting the grin that wanted to escape I scanned the building to make sure everyone was out, pleased when I found the building was empty I started gather dark energy.

Shadows seemed to be drawn to me, gathering around me as I pulled as much power to myself as I could. Once I was satisfied I had enough I sent out long tendrils of power to the charges, and as soon as they touched the plastic explosives the charges detonated, bringing the whole building down in a rumbling shower of dust and debris.

Dusting my hands off I offered my arm to Hel, who huffed and jumped back onto my skin, shifting about until she was comfortable I smiled at the warm feeling that emanated from her. Turning my attention back to the large groups of people behind me I started with the few prisoners who had stayed, carefully handing out small packs that would help them set up new identities including recommendations to forgers who would be able to set them up with the correct papers. Five minutes later everyone had a brief explanation and my number so they could call me if they had any questions. Waving goodbye to the last of the prisoners I finally turned my attention to the last remaining people, including the phoenix group, the genesis group and the two werewolves.

Huffing I said "if you want to talk you can come to my hotel but I wouldn't advise hanging around here any more, someone is going to investigate the explosion sooner or later so I'm getting out of here."

Whipping around I spluttered slightly when I got a face full of red hairs, shoving the ruby strands out of my mouth I stalked off, ignoring the sounds the sound of footsteps that told me at least some of them were following me, as well as their laughter at my fumble with my hair.

Scowling darkly I slammed the door to my hotel room open and stalked inside, I had got some odd looks from people for the skin tight black jeans and the matching turtle neck sweater as well as the pouches at my waist. Unfastening the belt I dumped it on the back of the couch in the suit and made my way over to the mini bar. Grumbling about the crap stock I flopped down onto the edge of my bed and said "so what do you all desperately want to know?"

"Who are you?"

The question came from Derek who was looking beyond pissed that he had to wait this long to get answers it probably didn't help that he was stuck sharing such a small space with two other werewolves on top of waiting for answers. "I go by Styx these days"

"What are you?"

Sam looked far to interested for my tastes but shrugging sightly I said "well I'm not really sure, I'm pretty sure I started off a necromancer but after what they did to me? Your guess is probably as good as mine. I think I might have some witch in me, maybe something else, don't really know, don't really care. Just so long as I can use my powers to destroy them, thats all that matters to me.

"Uh okay. Um, what about where did you come from?"

"Here, there, everywhere really, didn't stay still long enough to give you a definite answer." Which was true even before I went on the run with project genesis.

She looked like she was going to ask another question but Daniel cut in, "I have a question for your group," his words were aimed at the project genesis group. "I want to know how you could ditch one of your own group members!"

Tori scowled and said "she was a prissy little rich bitch, and she almost got us caught more times than I can count. She went crying back to daddy after we left."

Eyes narrowed I said "oh? You know that do you? Did you go and check on her?"

Tori glared at me "we didn't need to, she is a weak unless thing and so it was obvious that without us she would go crawling back to daddy dearest!"

Snorting I said "well that explains why your mistaken then, I met her about a year back. Blond hair blue eyes right? I think she said her name was Chloe, sweet girl if a little jumpy." By the surprised looks on their faces I knew that I described the old me in enough detail they would believe I had met this girl, "But yeah I met her in New York. She was quite the feisty thing, knocked me on my ass when I approached her in a dark ally. Eventually I explained I was keeping tabs on all the escapees and helping where I could, but she didn't want my help and I could see why, she was doing just fine. She even helped me out with taking down the local lab and freeing their prisoners. So suffice to say, I don't think she went crying back to 'daddy dearest'."

"Seriously Chloe did that!?" I nodded at Simon and he seemed to deflate slightly and shot an irritated look at Derek, "I told you, she would get better and that we didn't need to ditch her, just encourage her a bit."

Derek sneered "yeah well to late now isn't it."

"Yeah much too late, seeing as how I heard she died not long ago."

"What?! How? Why?" Simon was looking more than a little distressed.

Shrugging I said "she decided she was going to take down a lab all on her own, would have been fine too if one of the guards hadn't set of a self destruct just before she was about to blow the place up. Twice the charges, twice the boom. She got caught in the blast and didn't make it."

"How do you know this?"

"I told you I've been keeping track of all the escapees, how do you think I could manage that if I couldn't even tell when one of them dies in a huge explosion that half the country heard about?"

"Oh, how do you keep track of everyone?" This quiet comment came from Maya, and I was surprised by the sadness in her voice.

"Trade secret. Now was there something else you wanted or can I have some peace and quiet now?"

Everyone grumbled but eventually looked to be leaving when my phone started ringing, I had to fight not to groan when everyone paused in their attempt at leaving to stare at me. Scowling I lifted the phone and answered in clipped tones, "yes?"

"Miss Grim?"

"Yes?" I was getting annoyed now what the hell did these people want? I swear if it was a telemarketing company they were next on my blow up list.

"This is Mr. St cloud, I do believe you have been running around blowing up my labs. I would quite like to know why!"

"St cloud! Why the hell should I tell you anything?!"

"Well if you wish to see your farther again..."

"My farther?!"

"Yes a Mr. Saunders I believe..."

"You bastard, you want to know why I'm destroying your labs?! Well you just answered you own question, you use shitty means to get what you want done. Like threatening family members! How the hell did you even find out who I was anyway?!"

"Ah well simple detective reasoning really, we like to keep an eye on our run away experiments of course. So when the group split off and you disappeared and then barely a few months later we have a giant thorn in our sides going by 'Grim' with ugly overpowered necromancer abilities. It really wasn't that big a jump to assume it was you behind the attacks, Chloe."

"What do you want? I won't ask again!"

"We want you to come in, all of you and in return we will release your farther."

"If you hurt him blown up labs will be the least of your worries, I may just get it into my head to see just how far my reach is and how good I am at finding a specific person and then you may find your self spontaneously dropping dead!"

I tuned out his reply instead using his voice to lock on to a direction for his soul and started trying to pull it towards me, it was hard this far away but I could already feel some give in his soul. Panicked shouting not he other end of the phone drew my attention "STOP! STOP! STOP! If you kill me your farther dies!"

Easing my grip on his soul I felt it slide back into place properly and then said "if he so much as has a paper cut when I get there, we are going to have some real problems!" Hanging up I scribbled down eh vague address I got from feeling his location out via his soul, he was about to get a surprise visitor.

Facing the gaggle of people in my living room I said "right could you all please leave I need to pack up and check out because..."

"You need to go save your dad, we heard."

"Uh, just how much did you hear?"

"Just your side of the conversation, his side was mostly muffled buzzing."

"Oh okay. Well bye then." Waving at them I turned and started picking up any supplies I had left lying around, which wasn't much as I didn't want to risk house keeping coming in and finding a pipe bomb on the floor and freaking out. That I had learnt the hard way and was why New York still thought I was a terrorist.

"We're coming with you!"

Turning to face the two werewolves I said "don't you two have pups to be getting back to?"

"They are perfectly safe for the moment and we want to pay you back for helping us, so we are coming one way or another."

Growling I resigned myself to having the werewolves around, "we're coming too!"

"And us!"

Snarling I said "great you're all coming, fan-fucking-tastic!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about taking so long to get this up, its been on my fan fiction account (same name) for ages and I just sort of completely forgot I was supposed to be cross posting this story, I still don't know what I'm supposed to write for the third chapter I only have like five hundred words at the moment and I've been working on it for months X( just shoot me now.


End file.
